Nutcracker apparatus

ABSTRACT

A power driven percussion apparatus for cracking a nut between two sockets axially aligned on a base rotating in a substantially vertical plane, one socket of relatively small mass serving as an impact member and having a short cracking stroke being driven by a hammer moving under the pull of a tension means stretched through a cam action, and the other of relatively great mass serving as an anvil and moving in response to a variation in the relationship of its aligned track to the earth&#39;&#39;s gravitational field so as to alternately approach the impact member to produce a clamping engagement of a nut to be cracked between the sockets and to move away from the impact member to allow the cracked nut to fall from between the sockets, the parts being moved by cam action and by gravity and so spaced and positioned with respect to the rotating base as to insure proper sequence and effectiveness in positioning, cracking and the discharging of a nut.

(451 Mar. 5, 1974 NUTCRACKER APPARATUS ABSTRACT Henry Haywood Turner,2702 Techwood Dr., Columbus, Ga.

[76] Inventor:

A power driven percussion apparatus for cracking a 31906 nut between twosockets axially aligned on a base rotating in a substantially verticalplane, one socket of 221 Filed: June 14, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 262,674

relatively small mass serving as an impact member and having a shortcracking stroke being driven by a hammer .moving under the pull of atension means' stretched through a cam action, and the other ofrelatively great mass serving as an anvil and moving 72 %5 n 3 m2 WA n CSt Um in religned sponse to a variation in the relationship of its atrack to the earth s gravitational field so as to alternately approachthe impact member to produce a Field of Search References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS clamping engagement of a nut to be cracked between 6/1930Gcbhardt..........................

99/577 X ber to allow the cracked nut to fall from between the I 7 Xsockets, the parts being moved by cam action and by 99/5 X gravity andso spaced and positioned with respect to 99/57] the rotating base as toinsure proper sequence and ef- 99/571 fectiveness in positioning,cracking and the discharging of a nut.

aw Yym ec MMT 0 0 4477 9999 iii] 4281 Primary Examiner-Edward L. Roberts1 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Watson, Watson Grindle &

Cole PAIENTED 5 4 sum 2 m PATENTEU 3.795.184

SHEEI 3 [1F 4 Pmminm 51914 3.795.184

' SHEH l 0F 4 ill:

1 NUTCRACKER APPARATUS with the impact member after a short unrestrictedstroke being limited by the inertia weight. In each is disclosed ananvil of adequate inertia to remain substantiallystationary as the nutis cracked against it. In each the nut is inserted manually and, aftercracking, the parts are manually separated for removal of the crackednut. In the US. Pat. No. 3,127,917 the device is struck by a hand heldmallet, in the U.S. Pat. No.

3,524,468 by a wooden hammer moving ina fixed track, retracted by handagainst a resilient means, and in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,898 by awooden hammer moving in a fixed track powered by a resilient meansalternately retracted and released by a pin on a continuously movingchain powered by an electric motor.

An object 'of this present invention is to provide a means whereby boththe movement of the anvil to engage a nut between its socket andthe-socket of the impact member, and the subsequent separation-of thesockets to release the nut after. it has been cracked, re-

sult from the'action of gravity.

Another object of this invention is to provide 'a cam means' whereb ythe hammer for striking the impact member is retracted against aresilient means and released during the interval that gravity, inpressing the anvil against the nut, cocks and maintains the impactmember in a cocked position.

A furtherobject of this invention is to provide'a power'driven basemember, rotating in a substantially vertical plane, on which the anvil,the impact member, and the track for the hammer are mounted inalignment, a cam. surface means disposed-parallel to and spaced properlyfrom the base member to provide mounting means for a cam surface forengagement with apin member on the hammer so as to retract the hammeragainsta resilientmeans, the cam surface terminating so as to releasethe hammer for subsequent rapid motion in a primarily upward direction,to strike the impact member pressed downward by the nut, the nut beingpressed down by the weight of the anvil.

A still further object is to provide a cylindrical guide means for theanvil with a port in the guide means so that a nut may be insertedtherethrough for cracking between thesockets of anvil and impact member,and, after cracking, may fall from the device as further rotationseparates the anvil and impact member and inverts the device so that theport comes to lie generally under the nut as anvil and impact'memberseparate.

A'stillfurther object is to provide that oneedge of such port be sopositioned that a stop pin near the socketed end of the anvil will incontacting this edge limit of a plate sloping outward from the port inthe anvil guide means serving both to guide nuts into the space betweenthe cracking sockets and to control the direction of scatter of shellfragments.

A'stiil further object is to provide such an apparatus wherein both thebase member and cam surface means are disposed in parallel andprincipally vertical planes, with the cam surface lying wholly to oneside of the axis of rotation and being definedby a spiral of increasingradius of curvature in the direction of rotation of the base member.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide such'anapparatus wherein the base member is rotatable with respect to the camsurface about the axis of rotation so that, as the pin of the hammerprogresses along the cam surface, the anvil tends to move and does moveunder gravity towards the impact member, against the nut, in turncocking the impact member and clampingly securing the nut between theanvils socket and that of the impact member.

A still further object is to provide for the cam surface .to terminateso as to release the hammer in a generally upward direction, since theanvil under gravity at this phase in itscycle will be pressingdownwardagainst the nut, insuring its clamping engagement between thesockets of anvil and impact member and insuring that the impact memberis cocked.

present invention will become apparent from the fol-- lowing detaileddescription of the invention whenconsidered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawingswherein:

. FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the apparatus in accordancewith theinvention showing one ofapairof ham-, mers at the commencement of itscam driven retraction from itsimpact member.

FIG. la is a partly drawn, slightly enlarged plan view, similar to FIG.1, showing a nut resting in the socket of the anvil. Subsequentclockwise rotation will tilt the track of the anvil so that undergravity the anvil will slide towards the impact member, clampinglyengaging the nut between the sockets of the anvil and the impact member.

FIG. 2 is a plan view similar to FIG. 1 showing th one hammer in theprocess of being retracted, its anvil moving under gravity to clamp anut inplace, and the anvil of the other nutcracking device moving undergravity away from its impact member, releasing an earlier cracked nut tofall under gravity from the device.

FIG 2a is a partly drawn slightly enlarged plan view.

more clearly showing the details of FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a plan view similar to FIG. 2 showing one of the devicesimmediately after the hammer has moved out of contact with the camsurface and has plan view FIG. 5, 5a and.6 are, respectively, sectionalviews taken along the line 5-5, 5a-5a and 64-6 of FIG. 4, I

showing principally the details of structure of the extruded anvilretainer and the extruded trackway with immediately related parts,including the port in the anvil retainer, FIG. 5 and 5a having beenrotated clockwise 90 to illustrate the relative position of theapparatus during use.

Turning now to the drawings wherein like reference characters refer tolike and corresponding parts throughout the several views, there isshown a nutcracker apparatus, generally designated 10, in accordancewith the present invention as including a pair of percussion-typenutcrackin'g devices 11 and 12, mounted on a base member 13 lying in avertical or nearly vertical plane, the base member being adapted forrotation about an axis 14 perpendicular to the base member. A camsurface table 15 (see FIG. 4) is disposed slightly behind and parallelto the base member 13, and a cam surface element 16, to be hereinafterdescribed, is mounted on the outer surface of table 15. A motor 17 issuitably mounted behind table 15 for driving a sprocket wheel 18 whichin turn drives sprocket wheel 19 through a suitably provided belt 21. Anaxle rod 22 is mounted to the wheel 19 (see FIG. 4), and the free end ofrod 22 is mounted in any convenient manner to the back of base member13. The base member and both devices 11 and 12 mounted thereon may betherefore rotated in a clockwise direction, as shown by the arrows inthe various Figures.

Since the devices 11, 12 are identical, except for their relativepositions on the base member 13, only the device 11 will be described indetail. Turning to the detailed showing thereof in FIGS. 4, 5, 5a and 6,it can be seen that an anvil 23, of a solid metallic and substantiallyheavy mass, is guided on base member 13 by means ofa cylindricalretainer 24 which is conveniently secured to the outer surface of thebase member 13 by means of screws 25. Along approximately one half thelength of anvil retainer 24 closest to impact member 27 a shield plate47 slopes outward and, with the anvil to the left of the axis ofrotation, upward. That portion of the cylindrical anvil retainer 24behind shield plate 47 has been removed, leaving a port 49 for insertionof a nut between the sockets 34 and 35. FIG. 5a is a section throughthis port showing the absence of that part of anvil retainer 24 behindplate 47, and how a nut may easily be dropped through the port forcracking. Obviously one half turn later the port will face downward, toallow a (cracked) nut to fall out after separation of sockets 34 and 35.Anvil 23 is provided with outwardly extending stop pins 26 near itsopposite ends for engagement with the opposite ends of the completecylindrical segment of retainer 24 to thereby limit movement of theanvil toward and away from the impact member 27 which is guided within aguide bearing 28 mounted on the base member 13. The impact member 27comprises a generally cylindrical connecting portion, or shank. 29 whichis suitably disposed and guided through the bore of guide bearing28.Enlargements 31, 32 at the opposite ends of shank 29 limit therectilinear movement of the impact member in either direction throughthe guide, and their spacing thereby determines the length of anunrestricted cracking stroke which maybe given by the impact member. Thelength of the stroke may be further restricted, if desired, to preventover-cracking, by suitable washers 33, on shank 29 between theenlargement 32 and the bearing 28. To cushion the impact betweenenlargement 32 and bearing 28, at least one resilient washer shouldalways be included.

The mutually facing ends of the anvil and the impact member are providedwith sockets 34 and 35, respectively, which are adapted for receptionbetween them of a nut N to be cracked, as shown in the drawings.

A hammer 36 is provided for delivering a blow to the impact member andmay simply comprise an elongated block of wood of rectangularcross-section which is guided for longitudinal movement on the basemember in a suitable trackway 37 which may simply comprise a length ofextruded aluminum track including rela-= tively opposed horizontal andvertical wall portions 38 and 39, respectively, together with ahorizontally extending wall 41 secured to the base member in the normalmanner as by screws 42. For urging the hammer into impacting engagementwith impact member 27 one or more rubber bands 43 or other typeresilient means, are stretched between pins 44 and 45 projectingoutwardly from the hammer and from the outer surface of the base member,respectively.

To retract hammer 36 away from impact member 27, a depending cam pin 46is provided near the rearward end of the hammer, so that as the device11 is rotated clockwise to its position shown in FIG. 1, pin 46 willcommence sliding engagement with surface 16a of the cam surface member16 to thereby progressively move the hammer 36 away from impact member27. This progressive movement is brought about by reason of surface 16abeing defined by a spiral of increasing radius in the direction ofrotation.

Before proceeding with a detailed description of the nutcrackeroperation, it should be pointed out that the device 12, which, asmentioned above, is identical in all respects to the nutcracker device11, is located on the base member 13 in such a manner that its anvil 23'lies substantially adjacent the impact member 27 of the device 11, whilethe impact member 27 thereof lies substantially adjacent anvil 23 of thedevice 11. This overlapping parallel position is for conservation ofspace in using two devices on base member 13, but it is recognized thatdevices 11 and 12 may be located in other positions and that two or moreof such devices may be arranged radially from the axis of rotation oralong the sides ofa triangle or square or in other patterns withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

With reference first to device 11 and FIGS. 1 and la of the drawings, itcan be seen that pin 46 of hammer 36 has just been brought intocontacting engagement with surface 16a of cam element 16 duringclockwise rotation of base member 13 about the axis of rotation 14.During such disposition of the device 11, the anvil 23 is in a positionfarthest from impact member 27 after having slid into such positionunder gravity. Its forward stop pin 26, bearing against the edge of thecylindrical section of retainer 24, prevents anvil 23 from movingoutwardly therefrom. It should also be pointed out that shield plate 47,extending the length of the port 49 in retainer 24, slopes upward andforwardly, as seen most clearly in FIGS. 4, 5 and 5a. When the device 11is in its position of FIG. 5a the operator may place a nut N on plate 47to roll through the port 49 in anvil retainer 24 into the cracking spacedefined by anvil 23, retainer 24, impact member 27, and base member 13,or he may manually place the nut directly into this space, whereupon thenut will simply come to rest against the lower most portion of anvilretainer 24. The

has occurred enough to tilt the track of anvil 23 so that gravity pullsanvil 23 towards impact member 27.

With reference to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the base member 13 hasbeen rotated beyond its horizontal position, so that anvil 23 of devicell has been moved under gravity in a forward direction towards impactmember 27, producing clamping engagement of the nut N between thesockets 34 and 35, and pushing the impact member enlargement 31 intoengagement with guide bearing 28. The impact member 27 is now in acocked position since the enlargement 32 and the washers 33 are togetherspaced a slight distance from guide bearing 28. Also in this position ofFIG. 2, hammer 36 has been moved completely away from enlargement 32(see FIG. 2a). I

As the base member continues its clockwise rotation, pin member 46 ofhammer 36 approaches and moves beyond edge 16b of cam surface 16, and,as shown in FIG. 3, hammer 36 moves under the action of resilient means43 toward and into impacting engagement with impact member 27, whereuponsocket 35 is thrust upon nut N, cracking it. Enlargement 32 with itswashers 33 is moved forwardly into engagement with guide bearing28,-limiting the cracking movement so as not to compress the meat of nutN. Further rotation past the horizontal position tilts the anvilretainer 24 so that the'anvil 23 under gravity moves away from impactmember 27, releasing the cracked nut to fall from. the device, as isshown in FIGS. 2'and 2a, with cracked nut N, falling from the device 12,shown shortly after passing through port 49'.

If the base member 13 is in the position shown in FIG. I, and no nut isinserted into the space between sockets 34 and 35, further rotationresults in the retainer .24 of anvil 23 becoming horizontal and thentilted so that anvil 23 under under gravity slides toward impact member27, until its motion is arrested by rearward. stop pin 46 contacting theedge of the cylindrical I section of anvil retainer 24, farthest fromimpact member 27, effectively preventing subsequent damaging impactingengagement between impact member 27'and anvil 23. ln FIG. 1 this limitedapproach is clearly illustrated by the position of anvil 23.

When base member 13 has rotated 180 beyond the position shown in FIG. 1,the events described above for device 11 occur in the same sequence forcorresponding parts of device 12. Thus in the arrangement shown here,each device is 180 ahead of (or behind) its mate, and thus two nuts maybe inserted, cracked, and discharged with each rotation of base member13.

ent invention, although it should be noted that place- I ment may becarried out by hand or by some suitable conveyor or other similar means.I

From the foregoing description, it will be readily apparent that thevarious components used in assembling the present apparatus are simplein their design and are easily obtainable, and may be assembled withoutdifficulty into a nutcracking apparatus which quickly and effectivelyserves to crack nuts without crushing of the nut meat.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims, the inventionmaybe practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

l. Nutcracker apparatus comprising a base member, at least onepercussion-type device for the cracking of nuts, comprising an anvil andan impact member, each guided on said base member for relativerectilinear movement in alignment with the other, each said anvil andsaid impact member'havinga socketed end facing its aligned counterpartfor clamping reception therebetween of a nut to be cracked, means onsaid base member and on said impact member restricting the rectilinearmovement of said impact member to a predetermined range, a hammer guidedon said base member for movement in alignment with said impact member,means for guiding said anvil, resilient means interconnecting saidhammer with said base member and urging said hammer toward said impactmember, cam surface means parallel to and spaced from said base member,a cam surface of variable radius on said cam surface means, a pin memberon said hammerdisposed for cooperative engagement with said cam surfacefor movement away from said impact member thereby, and means forimparting relative rotation between said base member and said camsurface about a common axis whereby said hammer is moved away from saidimpact member'against the action of said resilient means duringengagement between said pin memberand said cam surface, and whereby saidhammer is moved out of engagement with said cam surface, therebycracking a nut clamped between said socketed ends.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said base member and saidcam surface means lie in parallel substantially vertical planes andwherein said cam surface lies wholly to one side of the axis of rotationand is defined by an arc having a variable cam radius.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said base member isrotatable with respect to said cam surface means about the common axisso that, upon rotation of said base member, said means for guiding saidaligned anvil tilts so that under gravity said anvil moves slidinglytoward saidimpact member to clampingly engage a nut between saidsocketed ends, and to displace said impact member to one extreme of itspredetermined range, thereby cocking it for cracking the engaged nut.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said cam surface hasarl'edge to facilitate release of said hammer during rotation of saidbase member for subsequent movement under the pull of said resilientmeans' toward and into impacting engagement with said impact memberduring the interval that a nut is clampingly engaged between the saidsocketed ends as a result of movement of said anvil under gravity towardsaid impact member whereby the nut is cracked, and

whereby further rotation of said base member beyond a horizontalposition tilts the means for guiding said anvil so that said anvil undergravity moves slidingly away from said impact member, releasing thecracked nut to fall from between said socketed ends.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said anvil guide means isprovided with a port so positioned that prior to movement of said anviltoward said impact member a nut will pass through said port undergravity for subsequent clamping engagement between said socketed endsfor cracking and, upon subsequent rotation of said base member, will beso positioned as to allow passage of said nut after cracking in fallingunder gravity. from the device.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein two of said devices areprovided side by side on said base member, and wherein opposite ends ofsaid devices are adjacent so that each said device is one half cycleahead of (orbehind) the other and wherein corresponding parts of, saidtwo devices are symmetrically located about the axis of rotation of saidbase member.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said anvil is providedwith stop pins near its opposite ends for engagement with opposed edgeson-said anvil guide .means to thereby limit movement of said anviltoward and away from said impact member.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein each i of said anvils isprovided with stop pins near its oppoimpact member.

9. The apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said guide means isprovided with an outwardly open shield plate extending toward saidimpact member to substantially span the distance between, said socketedends, thereby serving both to guide the nut into the space between saidsocketed ends and to limit the area of seatter of shell fragments.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein each of said devices isprovided with a port so positioned that prior to movement of each saidanvil toward its impact member a nut will pass through its respectiveport under gravity for subsequent clamping engagement between saidsocketed ends of each said device and, upon subsequent rotation of saidbase member, will be so positioned as to allow passage of said nut aftercracking in falling under gravity from each said device.

11. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said guide means for eachsaid. anvil is provided with an outwardly open shield plate extendingtowards its respective impact member to substantially span the distancebetween said respective socketed ends of 'each said device, therebyserving both to guide nuts into the space between said socketed ends andto limit the area of scatter of shell fragments.

12. The apparatus according to claim lwherein said base member lies in asubstantially vertical plane so that as a complete rotation'of said basemember tilts the means for guiding said anvil, said anvil under gravityalternately approaches and moves away from said impact member toclampingly engage and release a nut.

1. Nutcracker apparatus comprising a base member, at least onepercussion-type device for the cracking of nuts, comprising an anvil andan impact member, each guided on said base member for relativerectilinear movement in alignment with the other, each said anvil andsaid impact member having a socketed end facing its aligned counterpartfor clamping reception therebetween of a nut to be cracked, means onsaid base member and on said impact member restricting the rectilinearmovement of said impact meMber to a predetermined range, a hammer guidedon said base member for movement in alignment with said impact member,means for guiding said anvil, resilient means interconnecting saidhammer with said base member and urging said hammer toward said impactmember, cam surface means parallel to and spaced from said base member,a cam surface of variable radius on said cam surface means, a pin memberon said hammer disposed for cooperative engagement with said cam surfacefor movement away from said impact member thereby, and means forimparting relative rotation between said base member and said camsurface about a common axis whereby said hammer is moved away from saidimpact member against the action of said resilient means duringengagement between said pin member and said cam surface, and wherebysaid hammer is moved out of engagement with said cam surface, therebycracking a nut clamped between said socketed ends.
 2. The apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said base member and said cam surface meanslie in parallel substantially vertical planes and wherein said camsurface lies wholly to one side of the axis of rotation and is definedby an arc having a variable cam radius.
 3. The apparatus according toclaim 2 wherein said base member is rotatable with respect to said camsurface means about the common axis so that, upon rotation of said basemember, said means for guiding said aligned anvil tilts so that undergravity said anvil moves slidingly toward said impact member toclampingly engage a nut between said socketed ends, and to displace saidimpact member to one extreme of its predetermined range, thereby cockingit for cracking the engaged nut.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 3wherein said cam surface has an edge to facilitate release of saidhammer during rotation of said base member for subsequent movement underthe pull of said resilient means toward and into impacting engagementwith said impact member during the interval that a nut is clampinglyengaged between the said socketed ends as a result of movement of saidanvil under gravity toward said impact member whereby the nut iscracked, and whereby further rotation of said base member beyond ahorizontal position tilts the means for guiding said anvil so that saidanvil under gravity moves slidingly away from said impact member,releasing the cracked nut to fall from between said socketed ends. 5.The apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said anvil guide means isprovided with a port so positioned that prior to movement of said anviltoward said impact member a nut will pass through said port undergravity for subsequent clamping engagement between said socketed endsfor cracking and, upon subsequent rotation of said base member, will beso positioned as to allow passage of said nut after cracking in fallingunder gravity from the device.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1wherein two of said devices are provided side by side on said basemember, and wherein opposite ends of said devices are adjacent so thateach said device is one half cycle ahead of (or behind) the other andwherein corresponding parts of said two devices are symmetricallylocated about the axis of rotation of said base member.
 7. The apparatusaccording to claim 5 wherein said anvil is provided with stop pins nearits opposite ends for engagement with opposed edges on said anvil guidemeans to thereby limit movement of said anvil toward and away from saidimpact member.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein each ofsaid anvils is provided with stop pins near its opposite ends forengagement with opposed edges on its associated anvil guide means tothereby limit movement of each said anvil toward and away from itsrespective impact member.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 5 whereinsaid guide means is provided with an outwardly open shield plateextending toward said impact member to substantially span the distancebetween said socketed ends, thereby serving both to guide the nut intothe space betweeN said socketed ends and to limit the area of scatter ofshell fragments.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein each ofsaid devices is provided with a port so positioned that prior tomovement of each said anvil toward its impact member a nut will passthrough its respective port under gravity for subsequent clampingengagement between said socketed ends of each said device and, uponsubsequent rotation of said base member, will be so positioned as toallow passage of said nut after cracking in falling under gravity fromeach said device.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein saidguide means for each said anvil is provided with an outwardly openshield plate extending towards its respective impact member tosubstantially span the distance between said respective socketed ends ofeach said device, thereby serving both to guide nuts into the spacebetween said socketed ends and to limit the area of scatter of shellfragments.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said basemember lies in a substantially vertical plane so that as a completerotation of said base member tilts the means for guiding said anvil,said anvil under gravity alternately approaches and moves away from saidimpact member to clampingly engage and release a nut.